(a) Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display is one of the most common types of flat panel displays currently in use, and includes two display panels with field generating electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. The liquid crystal display displays an image by applying a voltage to a field generating electrode to generate an electric field on the liquid crystal layer, determining the direction of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer, and controlling polarization of incident light.
Among the liquid crystal displays, a vertically aligned (“VA”) mode liquid crystal display in which long axes of the liquid crystal molecules are arranged to be vertical to the upper and lower display panels when an electric field is not applied, comes into the spotlight because the contrast ratio of the VA mode liquid crystal display is large and it is easy to implement a wide standard viewing angle.
In the VA mode liquid crystal display, a plurality of domains in which alignment directions of the liquid crystals are different from each other, may be formed in one pixel in order to implement the wide viewing angle. Methods such as forming of a cutout such as a fine slit, or forming of a protrusion on the field generating electrode, are used as means for forming a plurality of domains. In this method, the liquid crystals are aligned in a direction that is vertical to a fringe field by the fringe field formed between an edge of the cutout or the protrusion and the field generating electrode facing the edge, and thus a plurality of domains may be formed.
However, the VA mode liquid crystal display has poor lateral surface visibility as compared to front surface visibility.